Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-p9bg8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T04:24:01.768Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Marijuana use among older adults in the U.S.A.: user characteristics, patterns of use, and implications for intervention

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 November 2010

Diana M. DiNitto  and
Namkee G. Choi
Get access

Abstract

Background: Epidemiological studies show that the number of older adults using marijuana is increasing. This study aimed to determine the correlates and patterns of marijuana use among older adults that might help health and social service providers better assist this group.

Methods: Data are from the 2008 National Survey on Drug Use and Health conducted by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration in the U.S.A. The sample consisted of 5,325 adults aged 50 years and older.

Results: Of the sample, 2.8% were past-year marijuana users. Of them, 23% had used marijuana on at least half the days of the year. Past-year users were more likely to be younger (50–64 years old), black, and not married, and they had significantly higher psychological distress scores, but they did not rate their health as poorer than others in the sample, nor did they attribute many problems, including psychological problems, as being related to their marijuana use. Nevertheless, past-year users present a high-risk profile because, in addition to frequent marijuana use, they also are more likely to smoke cigarettes, engage in binge drinking, and use other illicit drugs.

Conclusions: Health and social service providers should be alert to the small number of routine marijuana users among the younger members of the older adult population, especially those suffering significant psychological distress, so that these individuals can be encouraged to utilize services that will help alleviate this distress and promote a healthier lifestyle and increase general well being.

Keywords

older peopleelderlymarijuanacannabisdrug usesubstance misuse
Type
Research Article
Information
International Psychogeriatrics , Volume 23 , Issue 5 , June 2011 , pp. 732 - 741
Copyright
Copyright © International Psychogeriatric Association 2010

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Blazer, D. G. and Wu, L. (2009). The epidemiology of substance use and disorders among middle aged and elderly community adults: National Survey on Drug Use and Health. American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 17, 237–245.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Blow, F. C. (1998). Substance Abuse Among Older Adults. Treatment Improvement Protocol (TIP) Series 26, DHHS Publication No. (SMA) 98–3179. Rockville, MD: Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Available at http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/bv.fcgi?rid=hstat5.chapter.48302; last accessed 10 June 2010.Google Scholar
Bovasso, G. B. (2001). Cannabis use as a risk factor for depressive symptoms. American Journal of Psychiatry, 158, 2033–2037.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Coggans, N., Dalgarno, P., Johnson, L. and Shewan, D. (2004). Long-term heavy cannabis use: implications for health education. Drugs: Education, Prevention and Policy, 11, 299–313.Google Scholar
Colliver, J. D., Compton, W. M., Gfroerer, J. C. and Condon, T. (2006). Projecting drug use among aging baby boomers in 2020. Annals of Epidemiology, 16, 257–265.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Crome, I. and Crome, P. (2005). “At your age, what does it matter?”: myths and realities about older people who use substances. Drugs: Education, Prevention, and Policy, 12, 343–347.Google Scholar
Furukawa, T. A., Kessler, R. C., Slade, T. and Andrews, G. (2003). The performance of the K6 and K10 screening scales for psychological distress in the Australian National Survey of Mental Health and Well-Being. Psychological Medicine, 33, 357–362.Google Scholar
Gfroerer, J. C. and Epstein, J. F. (1999). Marijuana initiates and their impact on future drug abuse treatment need. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 54, 229–237.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gfroerer, J., Penne, M., Pemberton, M. and Folsom, R. (2003). Substance abuse treatment need among older adults in 2020: the impact of the aging baby-boom cohort. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 69, 127–135.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Glintborg, B., Olsen, L., Poulsen, H., Linnet, K. and Dalhoff, K. (2008). Reliability of self-reported use of amphetamine, barbiturates, benzodiazepines, cannabinoids, cocaine, methadone, and opiates among acutely hospitalized elderly medical patients. Clinical Toxicology, 46, 239–242.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hall, W. and Degenhardt, , , L. (2000). Cannabis use and psychosis: a review of clinical and epidemiological evidence. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 34, 26–34.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kessler, R. C. et al. (2002). Short screening scales to monitor population prevalences and trends in nonspecific psychological distress. Psychological Medicine, 32, 959–976.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kessler, R. C. et al. (2003). Screening for serious mental illness in the general population. Archives of General Psychiatry, 60, 184–189.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pearson, G. (2001). Normal drug use: ethnographic fieldwork among an adult network of recreational drug users in inner London. Substance Use and Misuse, 36, 167–200.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rey, J. M. and Tennant, C. C. (2002). Cannabis and mental health. BMJ, 325, 1183–1184.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rockett, I. R. H., Putnam, S. L., Jia, H. and Smith, G. S. (2006). Declared and undeclared substance use among emergency department patients: a population-based study. Addiction, 101, 706–712.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sedensky, M. (2010, February 22). Marijuana use by seniors goes up as baby boomers age. Huffington Post. Available at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/02/22/marijuana-use-by-seniors-_n_471296.html; last accessed 10 June 2010.Google Scholar
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (2007). Older Adults in Substance Abuse Treatment: 2005. Rockville, MD: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Available at http://download.ncadi.samhsa.gov/prevline/pdfs/DASISRPT07-1108.pdf; last accessed 10 June 2010.Google Scholar
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (2009). Results from the 2008 National Survey on Drug Use and Health: National Findings. Office of Applied Studies, NSDUH Series H-36, HHS Publication No. SMA 09-4434. Rockville, MD: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Available at http://oas.samhsa.gov/nsduh/2k8nsduh/2k8Results.htm#8.0.2; last accessed 10 June 2010.Google Scholar
van Os, J., Bak, M., Hanssen, M., Bijl, R. V., de Graaf, R. and Verdoux, H. (2002). Cannabis use and psychosis: a longitudinal, population-based survey. American Journal of Epidemiology, 156, 319–327.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Williamson, E. M. and Evans, F. J. (2000). Cannabinoids in clinical practice. Drugs, 60, 1303–1314.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed